Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: food, holiday

As we’re all trying to figure out what our new virtual & socially-distanced Thanksgiving might look like this year… I’m kinda drooling over this option!!! I’ll be flying solo on Thursday, so why not eat whatever I want??? And isn’t this every kid’s dream??? I mean… we all know that I have the palate of a four-year old.

If you need more details about this scrumptious dream cake…
The PieCakenclick on www.goldbelly.com

Categories: classes, glaze, pottery

Fresh from the kiln. A class demo bottle with a class demo glaze! One of my students had used this glaze combo on a few of his pieces, and Ted was more than willing to share the info. So I figured I would give it a try too!!!

The look is pretty sweet, but if I must say, the “texture” of the blended top section is a little “rougher & scratchier” than I would normally like.

Hey Lillstreeters (besides Ted)… Any guesses what this combo is?!

Categories: color, platters, sgraffito

When Chris bought this green sgraffito platter at MY HOLIDAY HOME SHOW, she knew she wanted it right away. But the big question was how it would look if she hung it on her lavender colored bedroom wall… I’d say it looks pretty GREAT. I’m totally diggin’ the color contrast… and yet somehow they go really well together!

Categories: platters, soda-fired, stamped, textures

Some stamped patterns and pretty groovy spiral…
all soda-fired for another TEXTURE TUESDAY!
Y’all know how much I love a good spiral !!!

Categories: mugs, pottery, process, production

I’ve been working lately on some oversized pieces for a special commission project. Adding some colored flashing slip accents that will change color during the soda-firing. I’ve got to be honest, I’ve never made “mugs” this large before… but it’s been kinda fun! The challenge was to make them large enough to meet the volume requirement!!! And you know how we all feel when the clay starts to shrink… “Did I make them big enough???” Fingers crossed.

Categories: creativity, inspiration

TOO FUNNY! I love this illustration… and will honestly admit that I might possibly still be at the very bottom starting point of the hierarchy! Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good pun, a good practical joke & a good slapstick shtick!!! But I’ve been told MANY times by my Summer Campers that I have too many “Dad jokes”… and I’m totally okay with that!!!

Categories: classes, lillstreet

Registration opened today for the Winter 2021 session at Lillstreet Art Center. I will be teaching four different classes… for ALL levels of potters! Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced and my favorite… The Great Lillstreet Throwdown!!! Click on the link below to sign-up… as spaces will fill quickly since they’re still limiting classes to eight students again for effective social-distancing… with plenty of safety measure, hand sanitizers & full masks required!

Click here to register for Lillstreet classes!

Categories: color, nature, seasons

A beautiful Fall ombre-colored ivy climbing the wall. With snow in the forecast, I’m not sure that this is going to last much longer?! It has been a beautiful Fall season… but is so wrong that I want it to last even longer??? I’m not ready for SNOW!!!

Categories: art fair, mugs, pottery, soda-fired, stamped

A very special THANK YOU to those of you who made it to MY HOLIDAY HOME SHOW this past weekend. I tried my best to pull-out all of the stops in terms of safety protocols, required face masks, limited access, lower capacity, hand sanitizer, single-serving snacks and so much more!

If you would still like to stop by MY HOLIDAY HOME SHOW, you can still book an appointment on my website for tonight, Tuesday & Wednesday. After Thanksgiving, there will be even more online opportunities to do some pottery shopping for the holidays. No worries… together we can make it happen!

Click here for more information or to book a socially-distant appointment.

Thanks again… I definitely appreciate your support during these crazy times… and happy MUGSHOT MONDAY!!!

Categories: art fair, holiday, pottery

It’s time to kick-off your holiday shopping… make your list, check it twice and then head over to MY HOLIDAY HOME SHOW this weekend from 10:00am-6:00pm on Saturday & Sunday. We’re taking all of the proper precautions to keep it safe & socially-distanced for everyone with a limited capacity of six shoppers at one time.

Check here for more details, address & safety precautions!